The Oregon softball team lost both games of its weekend series against Stanford, including a 9-5 loss Sunday in front of 263 fans at Howe Field.
The Ducks (25-16 overall, 3-7 Pacific-10 Conference) jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning against the Cardinal’s Becky McCullough. However, behind poor defense and four errors in Sunday’s contest, Oregon dropped its third straight game.
“We played hard, but once again, our defense let us down,” Oregon head coach Kathy Arendsen said. “But we had some big hits; I thought we hit very well. Our pitching also was not strong; we put too many people on base. It’s frustrating.”
Oregon starting pitcher Amy Harris took a loss after lasting just two innings, surrendering four runs (three unearned) and one hit. Harris’ record fell to 12-9.
The Cardinal scored six unanswered runs in the third and fourth innings to go up 6-3. Oregon closed the deficit to 6-5 behind a Suzie Barnes RBI in the fourth and a solo home run from Beth Boskovich in the fifth inning.
Stanford closed the game out with three more runs behind third baseman Michelle Smith’s two-run home run in the sixth and left
fielder Meghan Sickler’s RBI in the seventh inning.
The Ducks committed a total of 10 errors in three games over the weekend — including a 6-5 loss to California on Friday. Oregon third baseman T.J. Eadus had three errors on Sunday but produced two hits and three RBIs on offense.
“I’m not going to speak for any of them,” Arendsen said. “I don’t know if they have a lack of concentration. I don’t know. We’re going to do a lot of repetition to try to get better.”
The Ducks return to the field Wednesday when they travel to play Portland State at 3 p.m.
— Alex Tam